Lady Maroons gain breathing room, defeat Tiger Softbelles

Last season’s runners-up has been doing it on defense.

The University of the Philippines Lady Maroons, even in leaving a whopping eight runners on base, grounded the University of Santo Tomas Tiger Softbelles 2-1 to gain solo third in the UAAP Season 78 Softball Tournament.

Designated player, third year UP student-athlete Chanti Bongat, helped bring in the first run of her team at the top of the second inning. With one out, Queen Maroon Gabin Paz popped a single for a base hit. After a flyout of the next batter, Bongat connected with a two-out single to center left field to bring home her captain. A catching error by UST’s right fielder then paved the way for a Bongat run to put UP up 2-0.

Sophomore pitcher Cochise Diolata and the UP defense only allowed just a single hit in the first five innings, a triple by Kristine Lacupa during the fourth inning. However, the Lady Maroons could not take advantage of this on the other end. Even in converting on six hits, there was no support as they left a total of eight runners on base. In addition, UP slugger DC Cruz might need time off from the tournament as she “overstreched” her hamstring during the final inning.

“Our defense was pretty good. Kulang na lang talaga sa batting. We left a lot of people on base. Sayang,” Bongat said after the game. “Practice and practice talaga on our batting,” she added on what the team needs to work on on their one day break.

Hannah dela Torre was able to punch in a run for UST during the sixth inning coming from a sacrifice fly by Lacupa. However, even with an error by the Lady Maroons in the final inning, the batting of UST failed them as they were not able to connect on at least a base hit in the final inning.

“Off talaga kami this game,” UST head coach Sandy Barredo said about the dismal batting his team displayed.

Bongat was 1 of 3 at bat and was able to bring in a run. Moreover, her run, coming from a UST error, was the winning run of the game. Winning pitcher Diolata again pitched 7 innings and was able to strikeout 3 batters.

The UP Lady Maroons end their first round campaign against the UE Lady Warriors on Monday, February 13 at 11am. UST looks to end their funk in facing the DLSU Lady Batters in the first game of the day.